Luke 5:36-39 (3)

*Start Timer*

-Introduction:

-We’re back in Luke 5 this morning.

-We’re going to be continuing our study...

…of the event that we started covering last week.

-Remember what had happened:

Jesus was questioned as to why...

...His disciples didn’t conduct themselves the same way:

The disciples of the Pharisees, and

Even the disciples of John the Baptist did!

In particular...

(and probably in light of their recent celebration with Matthew and his friends)

…they asked him why HIS disciples...

…didn’t fast and pray (regularly) like they did.

-We saw that what was REALLY underlying the question...

…was their angst and confusion...

…over the failure of Jesus’ disciples to subscribe...

…to the nearly universally accepted notion...

…of religious piety through asceticism (self-affliction).

They were seeing something notably different...

…in the way Christ’s disciples were living their lives before God.

-Last week we looked at Jesus’ first explanation of this difference.

He gave it through an illustration.

He told them something they all knew very well...

That weddings were for celebration...

...not for mourning and self-affliction.

And told them that it would be IMPROPER for the “wedding guests” (his disciples)...

…to continue to be in dissatisfied longing...

…Now that the “bridegroom” (Jesus) had showed up to the party...

…in anticipation of receiving His bride.

So, keep this in mind as we read his other responses in our text.

-We’ll start back at the beginning as we read...

…and we’ll jump back in where we left off.

Luke 5:33–39 (ESV)

33 And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

34 And Jesus said to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

35 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”

Click Off

(6 minutes)

Verse 36:

-We’re going to jump back in at verse 36.

There, Jesus continues to give (somewhat of) a cryptic explanation...

…for the differences of those who follow him...

…to even the disciples of John the Baptist

In one sense this surprises us, since John:

Had been clearly identified as the Messianic forerunner...

He HIMSELF had rebuked:

the Pharisees,

and much of the rest of 1st Century Judaism!

But in another sense it shouldn’t surprise us at all...

…because we have already seen where Jesus HIMSELF...

…had implied a decisive distinction:

Luke 7:28 (ESV)

28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Click Off

Remember what this meant:

John:

The last of the Old Covenant Prophets.

Reaffirmed Its call to righteousness...

But he simultaneously:

Pointed out the people’s failure to obey that call...

And called them to true repentance...

...In preparation of

the Kingdom that Jesus had come to establish...

The Covenant that He had come to cut!

Verse 36 helps us to better understand:

How He planned to do that

How the two relate

What that means for the religious differences between:

Jesus’ disciples...

The disciples of ANYONE else!

Let’s read it again:

Luke 5:36 (ESV)

36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old.

Click Off

(3 minutes, 9 total)

What we have here (as we understand it in our day)...

…is an extended metaphor.

In their day, it would have been considered to be a parable.

It’s a fairly simple one on the surface...

(though, given the wealth of our society in general...

…its simplicity may be lost to us)

It begins with a garment (article of clothing):

One that is Old.

One that is in disrepair.

One whose value has been diminished...

…through factors external to it.

One that (in its current condition)...

…is Insufficient to fully cover…

…the nakedness of the one who wears it.

-So, the question is…

…what should be done with it?

An option is given.

One which NO ONE in the ancient world would have considered viable:

It was to take a New Garment:

One that was fully intact

One of surpassing value

One that was still fully-functional

One that could sufficiently cover the nakedness of its wearer...

…and tear (not cut) a portion of it off...

…and use that portion to patch up what is broken about the Old garment.

-Now, what would happen if you did that?

Well:

The “fresh” patch on the old fabric would shrink the first time you washed it!

The Old Garment would still be unusable

The tear will be worse than it was before! (Matthew and Mark add)

The New Garment will itself have been destroyed.

Now, you don’t have either one!

This is an obviously TERRIBLE idea.

-Remember the question being responded to is:

“Why do your followers not practice their religion the way everyone else does?”

“Why do they not keep the “traditions” of the Old Way?”

The Bible Exposition Commentary says that the point is this:

Jesus did not come to patch up the old; He came to give the new.

The Pharisees would admit that Judaism was not all it could be, and perhaps they hoped that Jesus would work with them in reviving the old religion.

But Jesus showed the foolishness of this approach by contrasting (the) two garments… - Bible Exposition Commentary

-We saw before that the Jews were already realizing that...

…Jesus was claiming to be more than just...

…an extension of the Old Economy:

Remember How after the expulsion of the demon, we read:

Mark 1:27 (ESV)

27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”

Click Off

(5 minutes, 14 total)

Now, this tends to make us Reformed Folk a little uncomfortable.

Why?

Because many in our day discard the Old Testament...

…as something that has no relevance...

...to the present state of true religion in Christ!

May it never be!

Brethren, hear me clearly:

God doesn’t change.

His moral perfections are immutable.

ergo: His Moral Law is NEVER EVER set aside for ANY reason WHATSOEVER!

Furthermore:

He doesn’t make mistakes, and...

His purposes are NEVER thwarted!

That means that:

The Cross...

The New Testament...

The Church...

…were ALL plan A

God doesn’t have a plan B.

THAT MEANS:

Every portion of Scripture...

Every event in Redemptive History...

…is an outworking of the one purpose of God...

…that is fulfilled in Christ!

Amen???

-BUT! . . .

...We mustn’t dig our heals in there...

…and overlook passages like:

John 1:17 (ESV)

17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:11–12 (ESV)

11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”

John 4:22–24 (ESV)

22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Romans 7:6 (ESV)

6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

2 Corinthians 3:4–12 (ESV)

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God.

5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

7 Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end,

8 will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory?

9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory.

10 Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.

11 For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.

-If we are to truly abide by the principles of Sola Scriptura...

(and not just give lip service to it)

…then we must somehow harmonize these tensions within our theological systems.

(8 minutes, 22 total)

-Look at verses 37-38.

I believe they will help us to do that.

Let’s read them again.

Luke 5:37–38 (ESV)

37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed.

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

Click Off

This second metaphor is similar to the first.

It too, shows the impossibility of syncretizing...

...The Old, with the New.

-It also shows us that the framework of the Old...

…cannot contain the expansive glories of the New

-You see, “wineskins” were usually made from the skins of animals.

When they were “new” and “fresh”...

…they were pretty elastic.

Once they were old and spent...

…once they had served their purpose...

…they became hard and brittle.

-Wine is very similar.

When it is “new” and “fresh” it is still fermenting.

Consequently, it is very gaseous.

-So what happens when you put “fresh” wine...

…into an old, spent container?

It can’t contain it

It bursts out of it

The consequence again is:

The destruction of the wineskin

(Rendering it useless)

The loss of the wine!

It simply can’t work.

Luke 5:38 (ESV)

38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.

Matthew adds this:

Matthew 9:17 (ESV)

17 ...But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

Click Off

The erroneous conflation of:

The Law and The Gospel

Grace and Works

The Old Covenant and The New...

…leads to the corruption of BOTH!

-But, a proper, biblical discrimination leads to...

…the preservation of both! (In a sense)

Why is that?

Because it keeps everything serving the purpose...

…which God had designed it to serve.

Here’s what I mean:

Galatians 3:21–26 (ESV)

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.

22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,

26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

You see, if the Law is conflated with the Gospel...

…then you’ll slowly begin to think that...

…IT (through your own adherence to it) can give you life!

Paul warns:

Galatians 5:4 (ESV)

4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

Again, the Law is good!

It serves its purpose:

It shows you your guilt

It shows you your need of a righteousness outside of your own ability.

But, neither IT...

...nor the Covenant in which it was codified...

…was EVER able to produce the righteousness of God.

The author of Hebrew explains:

Hebrews 8:6–13 (ESV)

6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

8 For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will “establish” a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”

13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Click Off

(12 minutes, 34 total)

-Now, look at verse 39.

-Luke is the only gospel writer to include this.

I believe it is a warning to those who were/are...

…prone to cling to the Old economy.

He says:

Luke 5:39 (ESV)

39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’ ”

The Reformed Expository Commentary...

…helps us to understand these enigmatic words:

usually we think that old wine is better. But this is not always true; it all depends on the vintage, and in the Bible, new wine is used to express exuberant joy (e.g., Ps. 4:7; John 2:9–10).

This is the comparison that Jesus was making: his salvation is fresh, like new wine. Yet, sadly, some people are not even willing to try it.

They are so convinced the old wine is better that they refuse to taste what Jesus has to offer.

This was true of the Pharisees. They did not think that they were sinners, so they would not join the feast.

They refused to taste the wine of his salvation.

Here’s the “sum of the matter,” brethren:

Romans 8:3–4 (ESV)

3...God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

And here’s the irony of the Judaizers (then and NOW):

Romans 8:7–8 (ESV)

7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.

8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Why?

Romans 10:4 (ESV)

4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Click Off

If you reject him...

If you confide in anything other than him...

… YOU CANNOT PLEASE GOD!

-Now, the danger for most of you...

…is not in a full-fledged subscription to Judaism.

You’re not likely to be enticed to turn away from the grace of Christ...

…because of the arguments made by:

Jewish Rabbis

Hebrew Roots people today

The danger for most of you...

The danger for me...

…Is that we would would say that...

…The old wine of:

Our biblical knowledge

The depth of our understanding of the Gospel

Our level of commitment and servitude:

To Christ

His people

Spiritual health and fervor...

…is “good enough”...

..And in so doing, we too resist his work...

…within our own lives.

Let’s pray for grace to avoid such complacency.

Pray

(7 minutes, 41 total)